The UK’s Overwatch World Cup team say ‘It’s coming home’

As someone who lives in England, it’s hard not to think of the 2018 FIFA World Cup as a defining event of the year so far. I remember well the day when I walked down a central London road, where every pub was filled to the brim with people screaming Three Lions. It’s Coming Home, the sound of the summer. Quite literally.

What is ‘it’? Is it the glory of victory, taken through battle and competition, worn as a badge of honour? Is it patriotic pride, something the UK is in dire need of right now? Is it the beautiful game, as many believe, or something else? Perhaps, indeed, the beautiful game was not football: it was Overwatch.

That’s because the Overwatch World Cup is currently going on, with Team UK currently playing in the group stage against European rivals. Come in the top 2, and they’ll qualify for BlizzCon, where they’d stand a chance to be crowned winners of the (Overwatch) World Cup. We spoke to them after winning their second series 4-0, against Poland, to ask the important question for every world cup, regardless of what sport is being played. Is it coming home?

“100%.”

That was the one-word response from ChrisTFer, one of team UK’s players (who you might remember from last year’s squad too, who made it to BlizzCon).

“It is 100% coming home, yeah,” echoed their coach, Hayes. “Which is very similar to his answer!”

“When it’s a fact, it’s a fact,” said ChrisTFer.

The UK have three more games to go this group stage, and, given their results and performances so far, a BlizzCon-qualifying spot looks likely, although one game against the home team of France will be a challenge. Their next game is tonight, at 19:00 CEST (18:00 BST, 11:00 EDT, 8:00 PDT, 1:00 AEST), against the Netherlands, with their final two games being played tomorrow.